A Wish the Heart Makes : Fornever in Blue Genes

by: Tigger

 

Chapter 20: Tried, Judged, Sentenced and Executed

Mandy let Cat take the lead once they arrived at the Med Lab. Cat’s security forces were still searching the less traveled parts of the building for any survivors, for the dead and for booby-traps. With purposeful speed, the strikingly beautiful pair of women made their way to Bob’s lab where they were met by Davies.

"The police are on their way, Boss. They’ve asked us to preserve the crime scene, but I put them off by telling them that we had to enter the lab to ensure that there wasn’t anything hazardous in there."

"Good thinking, Tom," Cat approved. "Any indications they might have left us a nasty surprise or two?"

"Not in there. Dr. West’s Lab was heavily instrumented because he often did play with bio-hazmat stuff. There’s nothing in there that wasn’t there this morning . . . with the exception of his blood, that is."

"Yeah," Cat growled. "Look, we’re going in. Delay the cops as long as you can while we try to figure out what they were after and what they got."

"No problem, Boss," Davies replied, and then lifted his hand to his ear implant, his face taking on that look of someone concentrating heavily. He barked an acknowledgment before turning his eyes back to Cat. "That was the away team, Cat. Richards’ apartment is empty. The team leader thinks that the place has been given a thorough cleaning, too. If it wasn’t for the almost antiseptic smell, he’d have sworn the place had been uninhabited for months."

"DAMN!" Cat swore.

Mandy only nodded. "Okay, so Bob’s Lab is our only lead. Let’s go get to work, Cat."

~-----------------~

Whoever *they* were, *they* had trained these stormtroopers too damned well, Morag thought yet again. The body search they’d visited upon her once they’d pried her cramped body out of that tool hold had been thorough and quick. About the only thing they hadn’t done was strip her down to her skin and give her a cavity search, but she figured that was only a matter of time. Besides, the arm and wrist restraints they’d used on her had her hands safely locked into the small of her back. No way to pull any rabbits out of that particular pair of hats without the hands to do it.

Once she was safely restrained, the leader had designated four of the attack team to escort her. Escort, hell, they’d all but herded her out of the huge hanger facility into a series of labyrinth-like halls. Even with her training, Morag was not all that sure she could find her own way back to the hanger without making at least one wrong turn along the way.

Eventually, they came into a largish room set up like a conference area with a large table in the center, and a seating gallery along the walls. Morag took stock of the room. *Odd,* she thought. *Not an empty chair in the place except for the one at the head of the table.*

"Team Leader Dorcus reporting to the Council," the woman in charge reported formally. "Our mission was a complete success, however, we did pick up an uninvited passenger," and here she shoved the bound Morag forward, "along the way."

"MORAG!" a shocked voice squealed in the gallery.

Morag spun and was stunned to see a familiar face - stunned and then instantly furious that her *friend,* Teri Richards, was part of this. The woman she’d been considering as a lover in violation of the Church and all its teachings. Pain amplified her fury still further, and Morag lost control. "You lying, traitorous BITCH!" she snarled. Without thinking of the consequences, she tried to leap towards Teri, intent on doing what she couldn’t say, but she never got there. A well placed foot sent her tumbling hard to the floor, her face bouncing off the tiles since she’d been helpless to catch herself without her arms bound behind her.

Rough hands pulled her back to her feet just in time to see a shimmering light suffuse the empty chair at the head of the table. A oddly indistinct female body materialized before Morag’s eyes. "Well done, team leader," an oddly detached voice sounded when the figure moved its lips. Then, she turned her attention toward the gallery where Teri was seated. "You know this person, Florence?"

Morag was surprised when Teri answered to that name. "Yes, Leader. She is Morag MacPherson. She is assigned to the security team that guards the inner quarters where Sorenson has been staying since her transition."

The name evidently keyed something in the team leader’s memory, because she reached into one of the pockets of her combat suit and pulled out the little amber bottle she’d picked up in the Med Lab.

The Leader evidently saw this, and turned back to the woman guarding Morag. "What have you there, Team Leader?"

"A bottle, Leader, with some type of liquid in it. Evidently, it is intended for this MacPherson woman because it has her name on it."

"Bring it here, Team Leader," was the immediate snapped order. She did, and the figure of the Leader looked at the bottle closely. "Well, it appears that the good Dr. West was getting ready to test his new process, and was going to use it on tissue samples taken from our unwilling guest." She turned to look at the woman seated at her right hand. "Freuda, our transition facility is complete and ready to test, is it not?"

"Yes, Leader," the woman responded.

"Excellent. Take this bottle and this woman and use them for our first full scale test. Let us see if Dr. West has in fact corrected his earlier error."

"But, Leader!" Morag heard Teri’s frantic voice. "Morag is a woman, just like us. That drug might well kill her. We all swore an oath to advance womankind."

"She is a pawn of the Male-Dominated Politico-Industrial Complex, Florence, and will oppose us. Since she now knows us, she will be a threat to us and to all real women. Sometimes, even the innocent must suffer for the greater good."

"But why even test the female to male drug, Leader? Isn’t our plan to transition key males into women, and thus force them to accept womanhood . . . understand that women are just as capable and as intelligent as men?"

"Florence, the decision is made! Do you dispute my authority?" the Leader thundered.

Teri looked like she wanted to, but understood how dangerous her position was, and subsided, shaking her head in acquiescence. "No, Leader," she said softly.

"Very well, then. I will explain. Our goals are unchanged, but it occurs to me that the possibility of a safe retransition back to being male might be just the inducement some of our soon-to-be unwilling sisters need to help them see the light. Of course, they’ll never quite earn it, but if we can prove our ability to change a transformed sister back into a man, say by videoing Ms. MacPherson’s experiences, our great plan might be made easier. Not only that, a brave sister might accept transition to the masculine gender in order to replace a key official or two, and thus advance our cause that way. No, there are very sound strategic and tactical reasons to test Dr. West’s new process, and since we have a ‘volunteer’ and a treatment, I see no reason to delay." She turned back to the woman she’d called Freuda. "Prepare the facility and begin at once."

The woman nodded, and stood. "Team Leader, follow me and bring your prisoner."

Morag fought this time, but to little point. A well placed blaster butt knocked her senseless long enough for her to be taken to the facility and sedated. *She* would never wake up.

 

 

 

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© 1996 by Tigger. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.